On a rare day of football hogging the spotlight in a country where cricket is the most popular sport, Blatter declared the 16-nation meet open after Palestine had already set the tone with an 11-0 demolition of Guam in the tournament opener.

The home side also had their share of joy on the first day as Bangladesh came out winners with a hard fought 2-1 victory against Cambodia at the premier venue of the country.

Away at the Chittagong MA Aziz Stadium, the other venue of the meet, SAFF champions India's under-23 side blanked Afghanistan 2-0 while Chinese Taipei edged the Philippines by a solitary goal.

In between the matches at the big bowl, a lively 20-minute fanfare with loud music brought the festive mood back to the good old venue after a long time. Sixteen mounted horsemen marched-past with the national flags of the participating nations before 150 schoolchildren put on a physical display.

AFC president Mohammad Bin Hammam attended the ceremony as special guest.

Back to the day's play, goals by Alfaz and Emily ensured Bangladesh's first home win in three years since beating India in the SAFF Championship semifinal in March 2003.

After a cautious start, Bangladesh who had Ebnul Siraji as the only debutant in the line-up, began to slice through the rival defence in the Group C match but created their first opening in the 29th minute. A right-flank cross by Siraji set striker Alfaz with only the goalkeeper to beat, but Ouk Mic was brilliant to parry the close-range effort. Alfaz got the rebound but miskicked, only to see Monwar's powerful shot saved by Mic's stretching hands.

The pressure told a minute later when Alfaz, taking a pass from Emily, ran down the right and coolly placed a low right footer into the far post to get a rousing reception from a 15,000-strong crowd.

Young striker Emily made it 2-0 for the hosts from a spot-kick after leftback Parvez Babu was brought down by Seyla inside the box.

Cambodia midfielder Rithy Chan tested Aminul with two curling long-range freekicks either side of the break, but the Bangladesh goalkeeper thwarted both the efforts in similar fashion.

Aminul, however, was completely sent the wrong way when Rithy reduced the margin from a 66th minute penalty after Cambodia midfielder Seng Narath was fouled inside the penalty area by centre-back Nazrul.

Bangladesh failed to raise their game afterwards and their inexperienced defence -- missing two stalwarts through injury -- were under pressure when Cambodia threatened to equalise in the 78th minute, but Kumpehak's shot from seven yards was foiled by Aminul's legwork.

Bangladesh hit back in the injury time but Kanchan and Zahid Parvez wasted two chances inside three minutes.